1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a method of forming a metal layer pattern having a nanogap and a method of manufacturing a molecule-sized device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A molecule-sized device may use a molecule as a channel. To form the channel, a nano-sized gap i.e., a nanogap having a dimension of about one to several tens of nanometers and corresponding to a length of the molecule, may be formed between a pair of metal electrodes, e.g., electrodes functioning as source and drain regions of a field-effect transistor (FET). The nanogap may be very useful for, e.g., manufacturing a molecule-sized semiconductor device, such as a petabit memory, or a biosensor.
The ability to extend existing lithographic semiconductor manufacturing processes is limited by factors such as the wavelength of light, light dispersion, the numerical apertures (NA) of lenses, the need for suitable photoresists, etc. Moreover, the use of existing lithographic processes at the limits of their applicable ranges may result in poor reproducibility of the resulting structures. Thus, there is a need for new methods of forming a nanogap and a molecule-sized device using the same.